I have been dating a man for almost a year who is a single dad. I have become aware that his daughter who is 9 and has reached puberty has been allowed to come into his bed when she is feeling alone, afraid or ?. He lets her sleep there through the night. When we are on vacation she comes in at night telling him she had a bad dream and then he leaves where we are sleeping to go calm her down and then remains with her because he falls asleep. I believe that this is a serious problem and is very unhealthy for the child and may be somewhat unusual or lazy that the father is not enforcing the boundaries for his daugther to have her own bed. We even went out and bought her a bigger bed because she said her twin bed was too small and she was falling out of it. That is the reason she gave us that she goes in to sleep with her father. I am very concerned about this behavior. I have expressed this to my boyfriend on many occasions. I would like your psychological understanding of this behavior. When the father and mother were married they allowed the daugther to come in to their room at night, so I don't blame her for this learned behavior. She is a wonderful child.
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